Avoriaz said:
Agreed. guimard was looking more to Marc Madiot to lead the line in 83 after Hinault pulled out before the Tour. (Source, a very old photo book called Tour '83)
...here is a little background to the 83 Tour...
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In 1983, Fignon was a part of the team that helped Bernard Hinault to win the 1983 Vuelta a España. Guimard did not want to send Fignon to the Tour de France, because two grand tours could be too much for a 22-year old rider.[11] When Hinault, winner of four of the five previous Tours, announced that he would not start due to injury, the Renault team was without a team captain. Fignon was added to the 1983 Tour de France selection for the Renault team, and the team decided to go for stage wins, with hopes of having Fignon or Marc Madiot compete for the best debutant category.[12]
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....kinda odd that Guimard, given the circumstances, didn't have LeMond, his wunderkind, the greatest talent cycling had ever seen, compete for the debutant category....though that category that year was pretty stacked (see below )...
1.Laurent Fignon (Renault) 105hr 39min 7sec
2.Angel Arroyo (Reynolds) @ 4min 4sec
3.Stephen Roche (Peugeot) @ 21min 30sec
4.Robert Millar (Peugeot) @ 23min 29sec
5.Pedro Delgado (Reynolds) @ 25min 44sec
...and yes Fignon was somewhat lucky to have Simon drop out but then he also wasn't riding the Tour with the entire team behind him until he clawed his way to challenge for the lead....
Cheers